RU-55 | Jester King Brewery

0 characters.
We love reviews! Turn your rating into one with ≥ 150 characters. Awesome. Thanks for the review!

In English, explain why you're giving this rating. Your review must discuss the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) and your overall impression in order to indicate that you have legitimately tried the beer. Nonconstructive reviews may be removed without notice and action may be taken on your account.

Reviews by riored4v:

Aroma was awesome as soon as the bottle was opened. Loads of tart cherry, lactic acid and barrel aromas. A bit of caramel and roasted barley. Some malty aroma peaks through.

Taste was great. Malty and caramely upfront followed with an earthy backbone. Good amount of oak/barrel flavor with lots of tart cherries, prune and dark fruits. Acidic and sour. Mild lingering tartness.

Mouthfeel was medium/light, medium/high carb and dry finish.

Excellent beer overall. Lots of flavor complexity, aroma is nice and strong, and an overall great balance. Really enjoyable.

More User Reviews:

L: Ruby red with a brown hue from afar. A nice ring of head that stays with the beer until finish.
S: Absolutely remarkable. Oak with sweet vanilla and funky notes
T: The sherry barrel makes this Flemish Style Red the most outstanding beer of it's style I have had. It is truly a work of art. Going from a wine-like taste to a pure Flemish red. With a nice sour pucker reminiscent of sour apple and lacto.
F: The general feel is light, but the aftertaste is the perfect balance of a wine barrel and a Flemish Red Sour
O: Very impressive, I would seek this out whenever it is available.

This'll be only my second offering from Jester King. I enjoyed the other one (Das Wunderkind) quite a bit, so I'm looking forward to giving this one a go. RU-55 pours a murky, dark, stained-wood brown with some very, very tepid ruby hints. Completely opaque and capped with a soapy, gray-tinted head that quickly settles to a skin.

The aroma is nice, lively, and "pops" from the glass. Tart black cherries, sour apple skins, and plentiful grapes. Lots of vinous notes coming off with a big lean towards the oak barrel. Some vinegar surrounds the edges and keeps things interesting. Certainly the type of aroma that gets your saliva glands working right away. Funk is low, almost even nonexistent on the nose - the focus is certain on the tart, fruity elements.

One gulp and the vinous aspect of this beer leaps forward ahead of the pack - lots of wine-like grapes, wet oak, and puckering cherries. The tartness spikes quickly and settles on your taste buds, turning into a long-lasting sourness. The middle of the road introduces a very light tomato flavor, not exactly off-putting as it may sound, but rather pretty intriguing.

Vinegar notes are pretty profound and get even bigger with time. The finish contains a heavy dose of sour stone fruits, dry oak, and a very, very light, yeast-funk. Just a touch of corky mustiness, not quite in "barnyard" territory yet. It works, though, as the complexity of the sour profile are strong and interesting enough to stand up on their own. Thin-medium bodied, plenty of lively carbonation for a nice, crisp mouth feel that couples well with the dryness of the oak in the finish.

Again, I am more than pleasantly surprised by a Jester King offering. I don't know if I like this one as much as Das Wunderkind, but it might not be a fair comparison since they are slightly different styles. Either way, this beer was very enjoyable, and it has only reaffirmed by faith in this small-time Texas brewery. I pulled some similarities to RR Consecration out of RU-55. When you're getting compared to Russian River sours, you know you must be on the right track.